Understanding types of organizational networking behaviors in the UK manufacturing sector

This research is aimed at understanding firms' different types of ‘networking behaviors’, i.e., how and why firms affect their strategic network position by activities/routines/practices aimed not just at their business partners, but beyond such direct relationships. Thus, we adopt a network perspective to examine how firms exploit their webs of direct and indirect business relationships in order to assess and embrace the potential opportunities and constraints in the network. Based on the industrial network approach (INA), this exploratory research specifically focuses on networking behaviors in the UK manufacturing sector. Thirty-one semi-structured interviews with executive managers from fifteen firms were conducted. We identify four types of organizational networking behaviors by the way in which firms utilize their web of relationships to achieve certain goals. By using the concept of networking behaviors based on the INA as well as the strong-and-weak-tie argument in economic sociology, purposeful networking behaviors can be categorized into the following: information acquisition, opportunity enabling, strong-tie resource mobilization and weak-tie resource mobilization. These four ‘types’ of organizational networking behaviors provide a deeper understanding of how firms operating in business-to-business exchanges relate to and exploit their webs of direct and indirect relationships, taking into consideration the embeddedness and interconnectedness of the network context.     

An integrated approach to supply chain risk analysis

Despite the increasing attention that supply chain risk management is receiving by both researchers and practitioners, companies still lack a risk culture. Moreover, risk management approaches are either too general or require pieces of information not regularly recorded by organisations. This work develops a risk identification and analysis methodology that integrates widely adopted supply chain and risk management tools. In particular, process analysis is performed by means of the standard framework provided by the Supply Chain Operations Reference Model, the risk identification and analysis tasks are accomplished by applying the Risk Breakdown Structure and the Risk Breakdown Matrix, and the effects of risk occurrence on activities are assessed by indicators that are already measured by companies in order to monitor their performances. In such a way, the framework contributes to increase companies’ awareness and communication about risk, which are essential components of the management of modern supply chains. A base case has been developed by applying the proposed approach to a hypothetical manufacturing supply chain. An in-depth validation will be carried out to improve the methodology and further demonstrate its benefits and limitations. Future research will extend the framework to include the understanding of the multiple effects of risky events on different processes.     

Undisclosed orders and optimal submission strategies in a limit order market

Reserve orders enable traders to hide a portion of their orders and now appear in most electronic limit order markets. This paper outlines a theory to determine an optimal submission strategy in a limit order book, in which traders choose among limit, market, and reserve orders and simultaneously set price, quantity, and exposure. We show that reserve orders help traders compete for the provision of liquidity and reduce the friction generated by exposure costs. Therefore, total gains from trade increase. Large traders always benefit from reserve orders, whereas small traders benefit only when the tick size is large.     

Do consumers still believe what is said in online product reviews? A persuasion knowledge approach

The objective of this paper is to examine the effects of knowledge about manipulated online product reviews on the effectiveness of such reviews in influencing consumers' product evaluations. The results of two empirical studies show that consumers clearly differ with regard to their knowledge that product reviews can be manipulated and that consumers who have such knowledge are less influenced in their product evaluations by reviews, specifically by negative ones. Furthermore, the effects of negative reviews are even weaker when consumers acquire their knowledge through a highly credible source (compared to a less credible source).     

Examining the Draw of Diversity: How Diversity Climate Perceptions Affect Job‐Pursuit Intentions

Organizations must target talented applicants, who will often be demographically diverse, to attract the most competent and competitive workforce possible. Despite the bottom‐line implications of attracting the best and brightest, surprisingly little is known about how and why diversity recruitment strategies affect recruitment outcomes (e.g., job‐pursuit intentions). To gain insight into this question, we conducted an initial experimental study (N = 194) to test the premise that other‐group orientation moderates the relationship between perceived organizational value of diversity and job‐pursuit intentions. In a follow‐up experiment (N = 255), identity affirmation was examined as the mediating mechanism for the interaction observed in the first study. Mediated moderation analyses supported the proposed model. Collectively, the studies indicate that job seekers high in other‐group orientation are more intent on pursuing employment with organizations deemed to value diversity because they feel that their salient identities are likely to be affirmed. No such indirect effect is present for those lower in other‐group orientation.     

Images and writing in tourist brochures

The scope of the paper is to investigate the role of visual and verbal modes in destination image formation, with a focus on the 2009 ‘Malta, Gozo and Comino’ brochure issued by the Malta Tourism Authority. Discussing brochures as pivotal genres within tourism communication [Antelmi, D., Held, G., & Santulli, F. (2007). Pragmatica della comunicazione turistica. Roma: Editori Riuniti; Calvi, M.V. (2010). Los generos discursivos en la lengua del turismo: Una propuesta de clasificaci?n. Iberica, 19, 9–32; Dann, G. (1996a). The language of tourism. A sociolinguistic perspective. Oxford: CAB International; Francesconi, S. (2007). English for tourism promotion: Italy in British tourism texts. Milano: Hoepli], attention will be paid to specific multimodal framing of the ideational, interpersonal and textual functions [Halliday, M.A.K. (1978). Language as social semiotics. London: Edward Arnold; Halliday, M.A.K., & Hasan, R. (1985). Language, context and text: Aspects of language in a social-semiotic perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press]. First, the visual text will be addressed, through the observation of participants, perspective, frame, social distance, light and colours [Kress, G., & Van Leeuwen, T. (2006). The grammar of visual design (2nd ed.). London: Routledge]. Assumptions will be then checked and the verbal text will be analysed by means of corpus linguistics and the Wordsmith Tools 5.0 software. Particular attention will be devoted to verbal items like pronouns and adjectives shaping of the three core values of heritage, hospitality and diversity, these last identified as the cornerstone of Malta Brand in internal and external campaigns. The multimodal analysis of the brochure will show that both visual and verbal texts promote the core values. More specifically, these are first communicated through the predominant visual text, then described, clarified, expanded and confirmed through the accompanying verbal text.     

Fiscal policy,government size and EMU business cycle synchronization

We provide new evidence on the effects of fiscal policy and government size on pairwise business cycle synchronization in EMU. A novel time-varying framework is employed to estimate business cycle synchronization and subsequently a panel approach is used to establish the role of fiscal variables in determining the pairwise synchronization observations across time. The findings suggest similarities in the size of the public sector, yet divergence in fiscal policy stance, matter for the determination of business cycle synchronization. Hence, increased fiscal federalism in EMU will contribute to increased business cycle synchronization. Our results remain robust to different specifications and sub-periods.     

Assessment of the Regional Landscape Plan of Sardinia (Italy): A participatory-action-research case study type

The planning activity of the regional administration of Sardinia (Italy) has undergone a deep change after the approval of the Regional Landscape Plan (RLP), which establishes the directions for nearly any future planning activity in Sardinia, and requires that actual sectoral and local plans, as well as plans for protected areas, be changed to comply with its directions. This mandatory adjustment process can be conflictual, if the administrations responsible for these plans disagree with the rules established by the RLP.     

Determinants of the Willingness to Use Mobile Location-Based Services

This article develops 11 hypotheses on impacts of six customer characteristics on an individual’s willingness to use mobile location based services (LBS). Hypotheses are tested in a sample of 217 mobile communications customers in Germany who participated in a standardized online-survey. PLS analysis suggests that reported frequency of “on the move” information needs, perceived assessment of LBS in a customer’s social environment and extent of past use of other mobile data services have statistically as well as practically significant effects on adoption intentions for pull LBS. Data privacy risks and cost/bill size concerns are only weakly or not related to such intentions.